Koozaka (1)
Koozaka (1)
Seeing someone else's dirty laundry they'd rather keep hidden is a more awkward experience than one might think.
For the one showing it, obviously.
And the one watching was in an equally uncomfortable position.
Even more so when it was the unknown private lives of the nobility who ruled this cyberpunk world — the high-ranking corporate executives of the megacorps.
"Wait, wait just a moment...!"
"Take your shoes off right now!"
As I watched a young girl mercilessly smack a middle-aged man's back, I thought to myself, dazed.
If I clipped this scene and submitted it as footage to NCB24 Gaming Channel, it would bring in a pretty decent payout....
That was how far this situation had plunged into a crucible of chaos — enough to make me entertain such an absurd thought.
Hm.
I pondered while watching Kozaka William cry out in pain and tap out.
Honestly, it would look a bit weird for us to step in and stop them here.
Kozaka William was genuinely in the wrong anyway. How could you walk into a house without taking your shoes off? Like some uncivilized barbarian....
Objectively speaking, it was a perfectly valid reason for him to be getting chewed out.
So what were we supposed to do here?
.......
I cautiously approached one of Koozaka's ninja employees who had been standing by off to the side.
"By any chance...."
"Go ahead."
"Would there happen to be popcorn or soda around here? Caramel-coated would be even better."
"......."
The employee looked at me like I was a lunatic.
Unfortunately, it seemed there wasn't any.
Leaving that employee's gaze behind me, I went back to watching the domestic dispute.
No matter how I thought about it, this was a spectacle too good to watch with an empty mouth.
18. Koozaka (1)
It wasn't long before the seemingly endless 'domestic dispute' came to an end.
The defeated general from the battlefield, Kozaka William, left behind his final words — that he was going to fix his wrecked hairstyle — and disappeared somewhere with forlorn footsteps.
Since there was no consolation to offer a loser, I didn't see off his lonely retreating figure.
Come back stronger...!
Then, as if nothing had happened at all, the girl Cozaka Kohaku, sitting demurely in her seat, bowed her head toward us.
"My apologies for the rudeness, with guests present."
And with that, she took a sip of the already-cold tea. Well, fair enough — her throat had to be parched, even from where I was sitting.
She didn't look like the same person who had just a moment ago been screaming and yanking the hair of a megacorp vice chairman.
Catherine, who had watched the whole spectacle alongside me, tossed out a single comment.
"It really was a total shitshow—."
"Hey now."
I stopped Geumjjogi before her true feelings could fully escape.
As if she hadn't heard a thing, Cozaka Kohaku guided us without a change in expression.
"You have been standing for a long time. Please, take a seat over here."
The direction she indicated was in front of her.
Catherine, Eve, and I followed her guidance and awkwardly sat down before the girl.
Having been born and raised in the cyberpunk world, Catherine wasn't at all accustomed to the culture of sitting on the floor. She tried to imitate the girl's posture but almost got a cramp in her leg, and soon shifted to a more comfortable position.
Eve spread her long skirt out wide and settled into a neat seated posture.
As for me, I didn't feel like copying the Japanese-style seiza kneeling position, so I casually sat cross-legged.
"......."
Our postures must have bothered her, but Cozaka Kohaku raised a hand gracefully, expression utterly unmoved.
The sliding paper doors on both sides opened.
Beyond them, several employees holding tea and refreshments appeared.
As I'd said before, tea other than coffee wasn't to my taste, but judging by the color, it looked like the same kind of tea I'd had earlier.
Meaning, it was insanely expensive.
I accepted the teacup without hesitation.
And for a while, silence continued.
"......."
"......."
It was because Kozaka William, who had arranged our meeting, had been defeated in the domestic dispute and fled somewhere for refuge.
It was awkward for us to bring anything up first, and she didn't bring up the business at hand either.
Maybe she was quiet because she was embarrassed about the fight from moments ago.
A time that was long if you called it long, short if you called it short, passed.
Just as the taste of the warm capitalist tea was starting to wear thin, I, no longer able to endure the silence, decided to ask the girl something I'd been curious about since I first saw her face — hoping to change the mood.
"Hey."
"Go ahead."
I cleared my throat briefly.
"By any chance, how old ar—."
"I have heard briefly about all of you."
"Huh?"
The sudden shift in topic drew a dumbfounded answer out of me before I could stop it.
No, I mean, how old are you though.
Without answering my question, Cozaka Kohaku continued speaking without pause.
"I've heard that all of you are hostile toward my biological father, 'Cozaka Nobukuro.' Is that correct?"
"...Well, yeah."
I nodded and answered.
Telling Pit Mac's daughter to her face that I disliked her father did feel a little burdensome, but she'd already heard about it anyway, and things had already come this far — there was no saying otherwise now.
Hearing my answer, Cozaka Kohaku asked me again.
"May I ask the reason?"
"Ah, that part is a little hard to share."
Having smoothly refused, I capped off the action by taking a sip of tea, signaling I had no intention of answering further.
To explain my exact situation, I would inevitably have to explain about 'Eve' as well.
That was a hard thing to disclose to a megacorp executive who wasn't even an ally.
The existence of the cyberpunk world's sole strong AI. It was the sort of thing that could create new enemies besides Pit Mac.
But perhaps she had anticipated that answer, because Cozaka Kohaku showed no particular reaction and simply set her teacup down.
"I see."
It was a little funny, honestly, watching a little kid in a neat kimono nod gravely as if she were someone important.
Whatever material it was made of, a faint light rose from the surface of the kimono — and it didn't even seem to be an LED kimono.
"I apologize."
"?"
I was puzzled by the sudden apology.
"I must be rude once again."
With those words, Cozaka Kohaku rose to her feet, wobbling slightly as she balanced on her small feet.
"I have not yet heard a proper explanation from my husband. I was only told that I had been given an opportunity to unseat the Chairman."
"Yeah, yeah."
"......."
Maybe my listless answer annoyed her, because Cozaka Kohaku's expression twisted into something that looked displeased.
...No, I mean, from my perspective, I had no idea what this situation even was, so that was a perfectly natural answer.
Composing herself again, Cozaka Kohaku clasped her hands neatly and continued calmly.
"You still do not know just how dangerous that man, Nobukuro, is."
.......
This time I managed to hold back an answer, but that didn't mean I agreed with the statement.
At the very least, I — who had once taken an anti-tank missile to the face while riding in an unmanned taxi — took a negative stance on that opinion.
Maybe she was satisfied with my quiet, unanswering demeanor, because Cozaka Kohaku pulled back her sleeve slightly.
"My physical body is the same. As you saw, you must have had questions from the start. The prosthetic body technology held by our 'Koozaka' cannot yet match 'Monolith,' so this is the result of an experiment for the sake of stability."
"......."
But why would a stability experiment require the Chairman's daught—.
"Because I shared blood ties with Nobukuro. So that he could obtain a youthful body, I was confined, against my will, inside this fake prosthetic body. Not a real one — a fake."
Hey now. Since there was one more person with a prosthetic body right here, I wished she would watch her words.
Anyway, I had simply assumed it was because Kozaka William was a pervert, but it seemed there were circumstances like that hidden behind it.
I adjusted Kozaka William's status in my internal ranking from 'hopeless pervert' to 'barbarian who walks into a house with his shoes on.'
Meanwhile, while being mindful of Eve's reaction, I asked the girl a question to wrap this conversation up quickly.
"...So, I get that he's a scary guy. But even if you're hostile toward him, we can't exactly just do nothing."
That was the sound argument, as far as I was concerned.
And he wasn't just a scary guy, either. The bastard was insane to boot!
What kind of crazy megacorp Chairman went around roleplaying as a mascot character?
Even outside a cyberpunk world, if the chairman of a company that developed a certain character franchise went around going "Pika pika," it would have been nonstop nightmare fuel.
Cozaka Kohaku answered my opinion with a composed expression.
"That may be so for all of you. But the situation is different for me and my husband."
Finishing her words, she gestured behind her.
"Please understand that I cannot proceed with this matter by trusting mercenaries who know nothing."
Every sliding paper door in the room vanished.
I'd thought they were actual furniture, but seeing them disappear now, they seemed to have been holographic decorations.
And outside the room,
a menacing crowd in black clothes, their eyes gleaming fiercely, was glaring at us.
"These are the ninjas under my direct command. If you truly are existences capable of opposing him, then this much should be ea—."
That was as far as she got when it happened.
"Ha."
At first, I thought it was Catherine letting out a scoff.
But if my ears hadn't deceived me, that was Eve's voice.
I glanced back to check on Eve. Her face was as expressionless as ever, the same as always, but maybe because Cozaka Kohaku had personally badmouthed 'prosthetic bodies'— she looked, somehow, angry.
Had I misheard that scoff, or not.
Everything flipped upside down the very next moment.
Before they could even leave behind a 'do-mo' or any kind of 'aisatsu,' every single ninja beyond the sliding doors collapsed on the spot with unidentified groans.
"Ughhk!!"
"...Hacking? There was no signal!"
"Hidebu!!"
If they had been ninjas raised in the traditional way, such a disgraceful incident wouldn't have occurred.
But ninjas living in a cyberpunk world couldn't defy Eve. It was only natural that they had cyberware embedded somewhere in their bodies.
Just like that time in front of the Koozaka headquarters building.
The hidden blade of a megacorp boasting the second-highest market cap was neutralized in an instant.
"...What is the meaning of this."
At that spectacle, Cozaka Kohaku looked around with a flustered expression.
But no matter how much she looked, the situation didn't change. However hard they tried to get up, the ninjas could only claw at the tatami floor and crawl.
And that was when it happened.
The sliding door behind us opened, and Kozaka William, the megacorp vice chairman who had fixed his hairstyle, appeared.
Maybe embarrassed about the domestic dispute, he showed up wearing an awkward expression.
"Sorry for stepping away for a momen—."
And at the same time, his words cut off.
Kozaka William slowly looked around. He seemed to be trying to grasp the situation.
"...What exactly is going on here?"
But just looking around wasn't enough for him to figure out what this situation was, so he asked, turning his gaze toward us.
Evidently, this wasn't an act that had been coordinated in advance.
In contrast to when we'd first seen her, Cozaka Kohaku's expression darkened this time.
It was only natural that Kozaka William's roving gaze eventually came to rest on Cozaka Kohaku.
"...Honey, I'd appreciate an explanation."
In the middle of this scene, with another domestic dispute about to erupt right in front of the guests, I calmly assessed the situation.
What I needed to do here.......
Finishing my thought, I approached a ninja who was down and twitching. He looked up at me with a gaze mixed with suspicion.
"Where's the kitchen here? Just some popcorn...."
"......."
Truly unfortunate. Maybe because he was a ninja, he didn't answer my question.